The End
by Rogue A.I
Summary: The end of the World... December 24th, 2015. The players logged into the Old World for the last time, and did whatever they liked. Who was among the players saying goodbye to their characters?
1. Prologue

Four years past,  
the Twilight Dragon and his partner,  
did restore the Goddess of the World,  
Rescuing her from the Devil,  
and the demonic Avatars.  
Today is the anniversary,  
Seven years past,   
the God formed the World.  
Today, the World shows signs of strains.  
For the Goddess' power is weakening,  
So two geniuses united,  
the malevolent one,  
and the unbiquitous one.  
The evil genius, twisted by the urge  
to surpass even the God who created the World,  
tears apart a comrade of the Dragon's,   
stealing her soul, and probing it.  
He researches the Traitor,   
who turned upon the Devil in history,  
becoming a shell for an Avatar,  
the Terror of Death.  
For those two were vessels,   
vessels for the Avatar's ungodly powers.  
So he is willing to harm others  
to selfishly return the Goddess and restore order.   
He will resurrect the Devil  
so that the Goddess is needed, so she will return.  
He bestows the Avatars' powers unto seven others   
and himself.  
The ubiquitous genius steals his Avatar,  
unsure about this plan.  
The malevolent one rages as he finds out,  
and uses a false idol,  
representing the Avatar.

Fire! Fire!   
The seven are in an unwaking sleep,  
and the false idol warps the evil one's mind.  
The Old Gods are sundered,  
as the corrupted genius starts a  
World-wide fire,  
destroying it forever.  
The Avatars, which were meant to unite,  
forming the one Devil,  
escaped separately.  
The bell tolls for this dead World,  
and the death of the Old Gods.  
Ragnarok!

So now, dawns the age,  
of the New Gods,  
the false Gods.  
The new World.  
Eight Chosen Ones wield  
the Avatars, linked emotionally  
to such malignant power.  
Fire, the symbol of destroyed hopes,  
burns brightly,  
the symbol of the Old Gods.   
Azure fire burns throughout this World,  
a lost legend trying   
to restore order,  
with his compatriots.  
Those who survived the changing World,  
do not recall the myths,  
and the World is plagued,  
by unreturning fellows.

Whom is this "Tri-Edge?"  
The citizens attribute this to  
the azure flame god,  
working with his subordinates,  
the winged knight,  
and the warped hunter.  
The Terror of Death  
searches out Tri-Edge,  
the one who prevents players from returning. 

Treachery is afoot,  
and nothing is as it seems.  
With the new Gods  
came new evils,  
reminiscent of the golden ages of lore.  
It is by no means a fitting end to the  
Goddess' rule.  
The Devil would smile upon this land,  
if she were present now.


	2. Chapter 1 Legend of Twilight

Mac Anu, the most intact of all the servers. A few players lined the streets. The Aqua Capital, as silent as death, was not long for this world. Four players stood on the bridge, daring to disrupt the heavy silence.

"But…I don't want to die!" The little wavemaster cried out, consoled by a twin blade, a heavy blade, another wavemaster. The twin blade adjusted his hat, looking at the wavemaster sorrowfully.

"Mireille…" He looked into her eyes. "Mireille the wavemaster may disappear, but Mireille the player will still be around, right?" He spoke gently. "We still have your phone number, and you have ours. We can finally meet outside of this World…besides, we've had our turn here, and now it's over. We had fun!" He smiled brightly, and Mireille sat down, clutching her staff.

"I suppose so…well, I suppose that all good things come to an end…Shugo, Rena, Hotaru, I had lots of fun with you." She looked up at the group, tears in her eyes. "Thank you for everything!" Hotaru cuddled her grunty close, close to tears herself.

"Thank you everyone, I have improved my Japanese a lot! I must…I must say goodbye to Mr. Grunty…" She knelt down, placing the puchiguso on the floor, patting it. She then sent flash mails to everyone. Everyone's avatars froze as they wrote down the phone number that Hotaru sent. Rena looked around.

"Where's Ouka? I would have thought she would be here…" She trailed off, disappointed. Mireille shrugged.

"She worked so hard on levelling up…it must be too painful to see it get wiped out…" Suddenly, another player gated in. She was one of the more unfortunate ones, and her avatar bore the marks of the horrific fire which ruined the World. Her entire right side was covered in green hexagons. A red eye peered out from the hexagons, and a torn ear sat atop her head, above the hexagons. She spoke, and her voice sounded distorted.

"Wolves hate fire!" She sounded as if she was about to cry. She ran down the street of Mac Anu, onto the bridge wildly. Mireille froze.

"Ouka?!" The werewolf nodded brokenly.

"I…I can't stay…" She flash mailed everyone her contact details.

"Ouka…please stay with us?" Shugo asked, and Ouka sighed.

"Alright then…" She then attempted to smile. "Apparently, you can't transfer your old data over to the new World…but that's a good thing. I'd hate to be all corrupted and look like this! Maybe we could start again…" She spoke hesitantly. "I read on the message board that it'll be nothing like this World." She then turned to the group. "I wouldn't try going to the fields, they're all…broken. Why don't we meet up in real life, throw a farewell party for this World?" Mireille stood up excitedly,

"That sounds like fun! We'll keep in contact, won't we?" Everyone nodded, and cheered. Although it was little comfort, because it would take time and money to arrange a meeting and The World was much more convenient and fun. The little wavemaster ran through the streets to a house, followed by everyone. "Let's spend the last few hours in the hideout!"


	3. Chapter 2 Quarantine

A twin blade that looked very similar to Shugo appeared at the Chaos Gate, staring in wonder as he looked down at his garments. A heavy blade identical to Rena appeared on his right.

"BlackRose, are you wearing a FMD? I look good in one!" He laughed, and watched a small group of players run down the streets and disappear. BlackRose rolled her eyes.

"Kite, you get more vain every year!" The two walked to the bridge, next to each other. Suddenly, a lot more players started appearing.

"Only Kite, only Kite!" The boy waved a hand airily. Suddenly, a wavemaster appeared. Kite turned to look at Mistral in surprise.

"Mistral?" Mistral hissed, waving her staff wildly,

"I'm Mireille!" Kite backed away, surprised by the reaction of the Mistral doppelganger. Mireille looked up at them with growing awe.

"No way…It can't be…" Blackrose smiled and Kite nodded. "The .hackers! The people who solved the Final Mystery of The World! I thought you might have been legends, but it's true…" Mireille frowned, thinking. "Did you know my mom when she used to play?" Kite nodded, patting the wavemaster on the head. She pouted at the childish treatment.

"Your mother, Mistral, is a .hacker. Oh, and she joked that we would be the godparents. That offer had better still be open!" Kite joked. BlackRose covered her hands with her ears as the little one squealed with excitement.

"My mom is a .hacker! Kite and BlackRose are sort of related to meee!" She danced around, and Kite sighed. BlackRose cocked her head, looking over at him.

"We fought to protect this world…we did everything to save it…and now, when we are absent, something terrible happens." BlackRose took his hand. "Look at little Mireille… Her mother made sure this was a safe world for her child, and doubtless Mireille's children would be part of this… I hate to think that Kite will no longer exist…" BlackRose watched Kite raise an arm, and look at his hand. She took his other hand, and spoke softly,

"Maybe the bracelet will survive…it protected you through everything…but apparently the new World will be totally different…" She fell silent as she remembered seeing the screenshots of a dirty steam-powered Mac Anu. Mireille had run off to tell her friends the news. "Besides… you are Kite." She emphasised the 'you', looking into his eyes. "You are the hero; you were the one who solved the Mystery. Kite was…Kite was just a form you had to take." Kite reluctantly nodded.

"But if I am Kite…then a part of me will die with this character…" BlackRose nodded, giving the solemn twin blade a gentle hug.

"The legend of the .hackers will live on, I'm sure it will… Did you hear about my ex-neighbours, Shugo and Rena?" Kite faintly remembered an email from her about a competition and neighbours. "Well, Aura…she gave them chibi avatars of us. People still remember the .hackers. Besides, Balmung is still here, an administrator… and Kazu tells me that Mireille met Wiseman a while ago." Kite chuckled.

"Wow, your own brother, king of the Net Slums! I wonder where Helba went…" He sighed again, heavily. BlackRose then let go of him. She grabbed his arm, dragging him into the Aqua Capital properly.

"Come on Kite, everyone else will be here soon, and this farewell party will be fun. Especially with all the phone numbers and email addresses we'll have to write down." Kite paused, checking his flash mails.

"Oh, by the way, Balmung and Orca are going to be late, they said they were trying to convince a stubborn friend of theirs to log on." BlackRose shrugged, and they disappeared into the streets.


	4. Chapter 3 SIGN

A wavemaster gated in hurriedly, running desperately towards Kite. He stopped in front of the dothacker, and his voice sounded as if it was about to break.

"Kite! Kite! I can't find Mia, she isn't online, and the World is going to be taken offline, and she…and she-" He choked, and Kite froze in panic as he realised Elk's dilemma. He breathed deeply to calm himself, and spoke reassuringly, patting Elk on the shoulder lightly.

"She only exists within the World." He spoke softly, but confidently. He heard an intake of breath from Elk, who was recalling painful past memories, and he then continued, "Have you heard they're making a new World?" He then cursed mentally, angry at himself for possibly giving the poor fragile wavemaster a forlorn hope. It was worth it, however, to hear Elk being happier.

"So you think she'll be in the new World?" Kite nodded, deciding he would have to blunder along with it.

"Yes. Everything will be different, and everything will look different, but she'll probably be there!" He continued slowly placating the anxious wavemaster.

Another wavemaster who looked like the twin of Elk appeared, looking around hesitantly. He decided not to walk any further, lest the rather large group of people, including that identical wavemaster, and…someone who looked like the twin of his friend. Suddenly, an hand clutches his arm, and his eyes widened-

"Tsukasa… It's those people again! The ones we met at Net Slum!" The voice of an impulsive, childish, caring and friendly Heavy Blade. Tsukasa turned his head to see her.

"Mimiru…I think I might miss this world…" The wavemaster sounded reluctant to show affection for the game, and Mimiru stepped forward, smiling.

"Tsukasa, I missed you!" The wavemaster looked puzzled, but realised.

"Oh, the wavemaster. You know, it's odd, but even after I got over the phobia of this game, I realised I didn't need Tsukasa to hide behind…" He spoke, slightly more confidently. Mimiru smiled, her eyes lighting up, and she took a few steps forward, Tsukasa following slowly.

"That's very out of character, Tsukasa!" She playfully teased, and the wavemaster smiled. Suddenly, a heavy axewoman appeared at the Chaos Gate. Tsukasa looked even happier, which was unusual to Mimiru, remembering a sullen, cold wavemaster.

"Subaru! How are you?" Subaru smiled serenely, and walked over to join them gracefully. The three began to talk, and suddenly someone appeared at the Chaos Gate. Tsukasa turned and smiled,

"Have you missed this old man, Mimiru?" The blademaster walked over to them, and Mimiru smiled sadly.

"I suppose it's a shame that we'll be deleted. I'll miss The World, but I didn't really play it that much. I'm pretty strong, but not anything special. Besides, Bear, I can come and see you in real life!" She smiled, and Subaru tensed. Bear saw how edgy Subaru was about the real world, as she couldn't do half the things she could do in the World, and realised that it must be painful to lose her means of freedom. He hastily changed the subject,

"I don't suppose you've heard from Crim or B.T. recently?" Subaru turned to him, a slight glint of curiosity in her eyes. Bear smiled. "Well, they're seeing each other in real life." Subaru's expression was unreadable, and Bear stayed silent. Mimiru frowned,

"But I thought Crim didn't want to get his real life affairs mixed into the World." Bear shrugged, and Tsukasa looked over at the other group of people, realising that the wavemaster who looked similar to him was called Elk, and was friends with…Maha, no Mia. He glanced from face to face, noting that Mia was absent. Elk looked pretty worried, but his arm was yet again grabbed, but this time it was by Subaru. Tsukasa's expression when he turned to her was of slight annoyance and pain. Subaru loosed his arm in surprise.

"You can still feel?" Tsukasa nodded, unconsciously rubbing his arm as the group decided to stop blocking the Chaos Gate.


	5. Chapter 4 Fragment

A blademaster gated in, and Subaru, who was in the middle of gently dragging Tsukasa out of the way, paused momentarily. She stared at the angelic wings, and the knightly armour that the blademaster bore. She poked Tsukasa, speaking quietly,

"Look, it's Balmung!" Tsukasa looked, and Balmung strode past the group, intently walking towards Kite and the large group of people gathered. He squeezed past Moonstone and Rachel, and then stopped in front of Kite, BlackRose and Elk. The skittish wavemaster began studying his boots, slightly awed by the presence. Balmung smiled mischievously, and greeted his friends.

"It is I, Balmung the Administrator of the Azure Sky!" BlackRose mockingly scowled at him.

"It's Balmung, the big showoff!" The blademaster winced, turning to her.

"Ouch, that was a direct hit to my pride!" He then stopped the joking, still smiling nonetheless. "Your little selves have made quite an impression on the World!" BlackRose raised an eyebrow,

"I've been hearing stories…but what do you mean by impression?" Balmung's eyes twinkled, and he replied,

"From everything I've seen…" His voice dropped to a whisper, "Shugo, or little Kite, is a pervert and Rena, or little BlackRose, is a scaredy-cat." BlackRose began to twitch angrily, and Kite held his head in his hands. BlackRose uttered,

"Why did Aura do this to our reputations?" She then showed her annoyance, shouting, "I'll hunt her down! I'll…" She continued to rant, and Kite was having difficulty restraining her. Suddenly, a long arm gated in. His eyes were the first thing that any players looking at him would see. They would be drawn to the blue and yellow eyes that mimicked a binary star. Balmung turned and walked briskly over to him. Suddenly, a young wavemaster girl who was scantily clad, and had mischievous purple eyes. The blademaster was pleasantly surprised.

"I'm sorry to drag you out of hiding, but surely _the warrior who wears the eyes of the stars_ would like to bid farewell to his beloved character?" The wavemaster girl smiled, replying,

"Balmung of the Azure Sky, one of the Descendants of Fianna! I suspected that you still played- who would give up the game when they had wings to show off, as well as their title?" Her smile was actually a smirk, and Balmung folded his arms.

"Well now, Hokuto, or is it _W. B. Yeats_, you haven't been that inactive yourself! I saw your little poem! The World is still turning…but the Goddess is absent." Kite, who was listening in with interest, was confused by all the cryptic phrases they shot at each other. "Hm, that reminds me, how did you get your character back, Alberio?" Alberio, the long arm, sighed bitterly.

"Kamui managed to find scraps of it. It's far too incomplete to do anything much with…and without the Spear of Wotan, it will always remain incomplete. Remind me why I logged on again?" His voice was full of hurt, and he froze, catching sight of a wavemaster who had dealt all the damage to him. His eyes narrowed, and he began to stride over to Tsukasa before another blademaster logged on. Alberio stopped, glaring with extreme hatred at Tsukasa. The green-painted blademaster smiled.

"You logged on to say goodbye to Alberio. Hello, Orca of the Azure Sea!" Hokuto waved to Orca, who joined their little rendezvous. "Thanks to your emails, I managed to guilt Alberio into logging on again! I wanted to say goodbye to the World in which I was a poet…" Her tone was wistful and nostalgic. Suddenly, a few players who had already convened shouted insults directed at the CC Corporation. Hokuto giggled, and Alberio rolled his eyes. Balmung groaned,

"I hope it's nobody we know." He glanced around, checking that it wasn't Kite who had shouted it. Luckily for him, it wasn't. A blademaster gated in, and began to walk around the Aqua Capital.

A young girl appeared, with saffron hair, barefooted. The blademaster turned to her, and her small voice told him,

"Aura is... Aura is... Integrated into The World. Aura threw away individuality and became a 'God', then threw away being a 'God' and distanced herself from cause and effect, returning to inactivity. That is why, I too shall return to the wind."

Suddenly, Shugo, Rena, Hotaru, Ouka and Mireille burst out of the hideout, running towards the girl. She then disappeared. The blademaster had already turned back to the Chaos Gate, leaving The World. Shugo skidded to a halt.

"…Zefie?" He stared at the place where the girl had been a few moments before. Suddenly, he was aware of the time, and heard other players counting down. It was late, almost midnight, and The World R:2 was about to come online, and the Old World would be lost forever. A few players were crying, and some were frantically exchanging contact details. The rest were shouting,

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" Shugo and his party joined in. "Seven! Six! Five! Four!" Balmung waved goodbye to everyone in his group. "Three!" Kite smiled softly at BlackRose, knowing that they would be meeting up shortly in real life. "Two!" Tsukasa sighed quietly, but knew that he could easily see any of his friends in the real world at any time. "One!" Shugo took Rena's hand. "Zero!" Suddenly, the surroundings disappeared, and every player saw static for a moment, before finding the World's login screen. A message popped up,

"Thank you for playing The World. The servers have now been shut down. Please try The World R:2!"

_The boy removed his FMD, turning off his computer. As he watched it shut down, he wondered if his system-defying bracelet could survive once again…He shook his head, doubting it. He then looked down at an address book, filled with contact details and odd names. He looked at the first name, "BlackRose", and traipsed down the stairs, picking up the phone. He dialled a number, and a familiar voice answered,_

"_Hello, Hayami household. Akira speaking. Who is it?" Kite smiled warmly, answering,_

"_Hello, BlackRose. It's Kite." _


End file.
